Shadow
by rackham
Summary: A pirate attack on GP headquarters, a ship crashing down near the Masaki shrine and an old friend of Mihoshi sent to investigate. Meanwhile strange things happen around the Masaki house and Ryoko fears to be going insane... EDITED AND UPDATED CHAPTER 3
1. Early Morning

The story is set in the OVA continuity, but considering the Mihoshi special part of it. It takes place after OVA II as I personally really disliked OVA III, so let's just pretend it never happened. I assure you there will be ABSOLUTELY NO Noike around. Kiyone fans, cheer up, because she will show up here instead (not in the first Chapter, but soon).

Besides that: There will be no character bashing as I like ALL of the OVA I+II TM characters (+Kiyone)! There will also not be any TenchixAyeka/TenchixRyoko/Tenchixwhatsoever, this is not a romance. I'm just trying to create one more Tenchi Muyo story, some new adventures for all the characters with everyone getting some „screentime" and I'm trying my best not to prefer one over another.

All in all, maybe this story could be seen as my personal alternate version of OVA III, or just taking place in another alternate universe. I know only the very basics of the True Tenchi novels, so I hope you will forgive me if the story may disagree with it on some points.

And as it is my very first attempt to write fanfiction EVER, I hope I'll not be flamed for this... ^^

Rated T to be safe. Could happen that cursing and violence occurs in later chapters, maybe light sexual content also.

Please R&R and have fun!

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><p><em>She gasped and a short outcry escaped her mouth when she startled up into a sitting position. Confused in the first moments after waking from her sleep she blinked and stretched a hand to support herself on the ground, just that there was no ground next to her. Ryoko grasped at nothing and nearly fell off the rafter before remembering where she was. Quickly, she grabbed at the wooden beam and prevented herself from falling down.<em>

_"Ryoko? Are you all right?"_

_A pair of sparkling reddish-pink eyes looked up at her from the living room. Ryoko groaned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. _

_"Yeah, thanks, Sasami. Just had a bad dream, so – WHOA!"_

_Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened in shock when the realization shot through her._

_"What? What is it?"_

_The cyan haired woman vanished into nothingness and nearly the same instant re-materialized next to Sasami._

_"I need to see Washu, now!"_

_"But she's down in her labratory, Ryoko, I don't think she wants to be disturbed right now. Why don't you come over for some breakfast fi–"_

_"I said NOW!" Ryoko snarled and rattled at the door to Washu's lab. "Washu! Washu! Open! This is important! Washu! Emergency! WASHUUU!"_

_She started to thump against the door with all her strength which would easily have battered in any normal door but, unfortunately, not this one. _

_Suddenly, she felt a breeze of hot air on her neck which made her hair stand on edge. "Can you see now?" a cold voice whispered behind her, sending a shiver down her spine. _

_Ryoko froze and slowly turned around and just for the blink of an eye there were the outlines of a face with glowing red eyes, melting away into blackness. The whole room had darkened and a burnt smell stung her nose. The light faded quickly and it grew pitch black, until even her eyes were unable to discern anything. She felt her heart start to beat faster. Even if there were very few things in the world that could scare her, darkness was certainly one of them. Thick, impenetrable, all-devouring darkness which seemed to engulf her like a wave of icy cold water, deadening every sound around her._

_"Sasami!" Ryoko yelled out, rushing towards the direction she thought the kitchen would be, but there was an obstacle in her way that sent her falling to the ground. Laying on her back, she felt something touch her cheek, so faintly and softly it was hardly noticeable at all so she was not sure if she had actually felt or rather imagined it until there was a second one, a soft touch on the tip of her nose. She gasped in shock and covered her face with her hands, a dusty and powdery sensation under her fingertips. And then there was light. Nothing but a tiny orange spark at first, it grew brighter and brighter until she realized she was sitting inside a room all ablaze that was no longer of the Masaki house. Cinder and ashes were snowing down on her and all at once like a slap in the face she felt the heat and started to scream._

* * *

><p>A morning at the Masaki house was usually quite peaceful. At least it was typically peaceful up to the point a certain space pirate and the first princess of Jurai entered the living room and started quarreling over breakfast, or over one of them accusing the other to flirt with Tenchi while breakfast, or over doing the chores afer breakfast, which often inevitably led to a rogue battle ending up in the destruction of the house or none less than a part of it. But be that as it may, at least up to that point a non-involved bystander would possibly consider the scenery around the house to be peaceful and enjoyable.<p>

This particular day, though, the every morning lull before the storm with Azaka and Kamidake chatting about the upcoming cold autumn weather was disrupted even earlier than usual, at a time everyone was still sound asleep. It was an ear-piercing scream that made the birds inside the surrounding treetops fly up into a scaredly chirping cloud of wings and feathers and sent four of the people inside the house jumping to their feet. The fifth one happened to be Mihoshi who was sleeping like a log as ever, while the sixth was so very shocked by her own outburst she had indeed for the first time fallen off the rafter she had been resting on, doing a fabulous face-first pancake landing on the living room's floor.

The patter of four pair of feet aproaching her brought Ryoko back into reality and she groaned while the throbbing inside her head brought tears to her eyes.

"Ryoko, what the hell - ?" Tenchi shouted when he came down the stairs and found her sitting on the floor dumbfounded, rubbing her forehead with her fingers.

"What did you do? Did you hurt yourself?" Sasami asked. The little princess followed Tenchi close behind and looked at her housemate with astonishment as well as a slight concern.

"Well, this just _had _to happen one day," Washu's nasal voice sounded from behind the second Juraian princess before the self-proclaimed greatest genius of the universe planted herself in front of her daughter cross-armed. "Now, would you mind to stop staring at us like your eyes are going to pop out of your head and tell us what's the matter?"

Ryoko blinked and managed to dart an angry angry glance into Washu's direction before she narrowed her eyes and tried to sort out what exactly had happened. After a few seconds she gave up and looked at the rest, shrugging helplessly.

"I don't know!" she said, lifting from the ground to have a scrutinizing look at her sleeping-place. "I fell down from up there."

"My, what a brilliant conclusion!" Washu sneered. "And could you muster enough intellect to tell us why exactly you fell down here screaming blue murder?"

"Cut it out already, Washu!" Ryoko snarled. "I just don't remember! Must have had a bad dream or something... I think something scared me..." she frowned, trying to remember what the dream had been about. It didn't work. Ryoko grumbled angrily but then shrugged it away. Too early a morning to rack one's brains about something as unimportant as a stupid nightmare.

"Well, strange", she said, "But anyway, I'm awake now. Call me when breakfast ist ready!"

She was just about to move up towards the roof when Ayeka grabbed her by the collar and dragged her back to the ground.

"You are not trying to tell us that you were shouting the house down at 5:30 in the morning scaring the daylights out of us whithout any apparent reason and now just want _us_ to prepare _your _breakfast, do you?"

"Hey! Get your hands off me! I didn't do it on purpose, you know?"

"Maybe your loss of balance is the natural consequence of guzzling gallons of sake!"

"I did not – or at least it has nothing to do with –"

"Geez! Not now! Ayeka, please!" Tenchi tried to intervene, stepping between the two of them.

"Why 'Ayeka'? Is it my fault we are standing in the living room at 5:30 in the morning?"

"Yeah, Ayeka, thanks to you we all _should _know what time it is by now!" Ryoko grumbled and rolled her eyes.

"No, I'm not saying – Ryoko, stop now -"

"Tenchi! Why are you taking her side, I couldn't help it and she is just –"

"Oh boy, calm down! The two of you, okay?"

With two pairs of eyes suddenly glaring at him furiously, Tenchi considered it best to beat a hasty retreat. "Uhm... well... whatever..." he said, scratching his neck nervously, "I'll go help Sasami, then... err... I'm off."

Before Tenchi had reached the kitchen, a loud bang from above followed by a high-pitched shriek caused them all to turn round and watch Mihoshi tumble down the stairs.

"Ouch!" the first class Galaxy Police detective whined when she got back to her feet. "Ayeka? Ryoko? Why are you down here? Oh, I'm so tired..."

She seemed not far from dozing off while standing and yawned loudly.

"I could ask you the same thing," Ryoko remarked and vanished into thin air, reappearing next to the police officer a second later.

"There's a call from GP headquarters," Mihoshi murmured drowsily, "Must be an emergency..." she scuffled over to the front door and Tenchi noticed that she was dressed in her uniform already and seemingly wore her jacket the wrong way round. He went over to open the door for her, grateful for the interruption Mihoshi's appearance had provided before Ayeka and Ryoko could have started a fight.

He waved goodbye and when he turned around Sasami was just about to balance a dinner tray to the table, filled with damping hot tea and plates with food.

"Breakfast is ready!" the blue haired girl cheered and put the tray down, smiling and happy despite the early and unpleasant wake up.

"Oh Sasami, thanks, you are wonderful!" Tenchi smiled as he sat down with the others. He put the hot cup to his lips and sipped carefully. What a day. Maybe at least now they could enjoy a quiet and peaceful breakfast time.

"What do you think happened at Galaxy Police headquarters?" Ayeka asked and looked around. "I hope it is nothing too bad, but if they call in even Mihoshi they must really be in need..."

"Well, I hope everything will be okay," Tenchi said, "we've had enough trouble for today already, didn't we?" The moment he had spoken the sentence it dawned on him that it might have been not a very good idea to remind Ryoko and Ayeka of their argument from a few minutes ago and he glanced around nervously. Strangely, none of them said anything and he noticed a puzzled look on Ryoko's face.

"What is this?" the space pirate asked and raised her eyebrows.

"What?" Sasami looked around questioningly. Then they all heard it – a whooshing sound accompanied by a wail that both grew louder rapidly. Alarmingly rapidly.

"Oh no!"

The same moment Tenchi said the words a sudden loud bang cut through the air and an immense tremor shook the ground, spilling tea and food all over the table. It was as if his words had conjured up something like this to happen. The five of them sat around the table, staring at each other for some seconds.

"That can't be Mihoshi, can it?" Sasami asked and looked at Tenchi questioningly.

"Whatever that was, it didn't sound like Mihoshi's ship," Ayeka said thoughtfully.

"She would have landed inside the lake, for sure," Ryoko remarked and glanced around. "So, guess we should go and look for it, right?"

Tenchi groaned and covered his face with his hands. What a morning...


	2. The Crash

To get my story going, I had to invent some new characters. I really tried to refrain from it as far as possible, but it happens that one of my OCs is of bigger importance for the plot and so she will be around more often. I really hope you will forgive me and you'll not hate her from the very beginning (whereas you are very welcome to hate her if she might give you some reason for it, you'll see...). It's nothing like a Mary Sue, I promise. She will not marry/date/have sex with Tenchi, or Ryoko, or Ayeka, or even Amagasaki. Nope.

* * *

><p>They were standing exactly in the middle of the stairs that led to the shrine, staring at the smoking and smoldering heap of steel scrap and smithers that was blocking the way upwards. They had found grandfather Katsuhito waiting for them already, as the crash had disturbed his every morning routine of sweeping the ground upstairs.<p>

"That's a spaceship!"

"Yes, Ryoko, this is obviously and unmisstakeably a spaceship. Oh my, I'm so proud of my daughter's remarkable quick-wittedness. Whereas... thinking about it, it would be more correct to say that this _was _a spaceship, actually," Washu said in her usual know-it-all-manner, which caused Ryoko to give her a murderous look.

"It is not from Jurai, so much for sure," Ayeka noted, "and it doesn't look like a ship from the Galaxy Police, either."

"It is quite small. Does anyone of you know what kind of ship it is, then?" asked Tenchi, looking at the others. "Maybe somebody has been hurt, we should try to get inside."

"I'll go and have a look," Ryoko decided an vanished out of sight, only to reappear a few seconds later with a loud cracking sound that sent her flying backwards to the ground.

"YEOW!"

"Looks like the shield still _does_ work," Washu remarked dryly.

Ayeka seemed to do her best to suppress a giggle and covered her lips with her hands.

"So how we're gonna get in there?" Ryoko started to inspect the ship by flying around it.

"For the greatest genius in the universe something as minor as _this _should be no problem!"

Tenchi watched Washu typing on her halotop and like always he had not the slightest clue how this could actually help the situation, and nevertheless, like always, it did. Not long and Washu laughed triumphantly while a hatch slid open at the ship's backside.

"Well, well, so let's have a look then," Washu said and pointed at the hatch. Obviously she did not intend to go first. Tenchi had to bend down to get inside and immediately the smell of smoke and charred plastic stung his nose. He coughed and was barely able to see anything as he stepped forward. The ship was so small he reached its cockpit within a few steps, but started to worry about smoke poisoning and decided to better hurry.

"My, this is a mess!" he heard Ryoko say behind him. Where the pilot's seat had once been there was now a huge pile of battered metal and wires, some of it still fuming and smoldering. Tenchi gulped nervously. If the ship's pilot was still underneath this might not be a pleasant sight. He moved closer and stopped when he stepped on something soft. He looked down as he lifted his foot –

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Tenchi leaped backwards and bounced directly into Ryoko.

"Oh, Tenchi!" despite the situation, her voice sounded somewhat pleased.

"Tha... there... a hand!"

The others had been waiting outside and Katsuhito rushed to help his grandson when he appeared back at the hatch. Tenchi looked somewhat bedraggled and in his arms he held a body that was blackened with soot which he gave over to his grandfather as he climbed out of the ship.

"Ayeka, stay back, don't let Sasami see this!" Tenchi shouted and the princess quickly grabbed her little sister by the arm before she could get near the scene.

Katsuhito carefully put the pilot down to the ground and Tenchi looked closer. "Oh my... no!" He had to be severely injured, at least. Hesitatingly, Tenchi bent down, his hands clenched to fists. He gupled and crouched next to the body that was laying on the ground. Underneath the soot he spottet greyish-pale skin cluttered with bruises and the clothes were torn and blood-soaken. It was some kind of uniform, he realized, ochre-colored pants and a formerly white shirt. Something that might be the remains of a beige waistcoat was wrapped around the shoulders, a name stitched on it – _Kichiro ...Ama_? It was barely readable. He stretched out a trembling hand to touch his cheek and flinched back when his fingers felt deathly cold skin. He looked at Washu who was now standing next to him.

"Little Washu, please, help him! Is he...?"

The diminutive scientist crouched down and quickly yanked out a small device. She moved it back and forth a few inches over the boy's body until the thing made a long, wailing beep. She sighed, slowly shaking her head.

"Not even the greatest scientific genius in the universe can resurrect the dead," she said, "I'm sorry, Tenchi."

"Oh no..." Tenchi buried his face in his hands, "but this is awful. What are we going to do now?"

On his left he heard a flashing sound as Ryoko teleported next to him. "No one else inside," she reported.

"Are you sure?"

"Yup, Tenchi, absolutely empty. So what about that one? Oh my, looks pretty bad!" she said and raised her eyebrows.

"Poor boy, he looks so young... must be younger than me...," Tenchi said, dropping his gaze.

"Hey, you!" Ryoko poked the boy's side with her finger.

"He is dead Ryoko!" Washu snarled and snatched her daughter's hand away.

"Uh!" Ryoko's expression was something between surprise and disgust and changed to one of shock when one second later the boy coughed and his eyes snapped open.

Tenchi yelped and sprang back, bumping into Washu which caused them both tumbling down backwards to the ground. The boy groaned and covered his eyes with his hands.

"Ha! Not dead, Washu," Ryoko remarked dryly, "going senile in your old age, huh?"

"What is...?" Washu shot an angry glance at the space pirate and shook her device back and forth in annoyance before she pointed it at the boy again – and again, so it seemed, the thing did not act the way it was supposed to. "This must be broken!" she complained and stuffed it back into her interdimensional pocket.

"Hey you, are you okay?" Tenchi knelt down next to the boy and carefully helped him up to support himself on his elbows.

"I... I think so," he said huskily and sat up. The stranger looked down on his body and raised his eyebrows. "Oh dear!" he said and looked around, then he tried to rub his eyes with his sooty fingers, doing nothing than rubbing in even more dirt.

"Are you hurt?" Tenchi asked.

"Well, no... nothing bad. Must have been lucky, I think – just my hand really hurts."

Tenchi ducked at the last remark.

"Let me have a look at you," Washu said and yanked another machine out of her pocket. The boy looked at it nervously and scrambled backwards. "No, Miss, no, really, I'm fine, you don't... I'm healthy, I'm perfect... put that away, please – NO I said!" He struggled to get to his feet and nearly stumbled back down the stairs.

"Hey, whoa, not too fast, let me help you!" Tenchi said and put the boy's arm around his shoulder while wrapping his own arm around the other's chest. Under his fingers he felt protruding ribs and then... something soft that was clearly not supposed to be found on a boy's chest. Tenchi yelped and sprang back as if he had burned himself, sending the stranger butt first to the ground.

"What the...?" Ryoko and Washu shot a questioning glance at him.

"Ah... oh... I'm sorry... err..." Tenchi stammered, "it's just that he... I mean she... I mean, he's a she!" he scratched the back of his head and looked at the two of them sheepishly.

"Lord Tenchi!" Ayeka's voice sounded from behind, "Lord Tenchi, what happened? Is everything all right?"

"No problem, Ayeka!" Tenchi shouted, "Err... nothing's wrong, I think the both of you can come here now, anyway! The pilot is fine!"

"Are you... Sasami! Wait, Sasami!"

As soon as Tenchi had finished his sentence, Sasami had wriggled her arm out of Ayeka's grip and started running towards the others, followed by an exitedly mewing Ryo-Ohki.

"A girl, huh?" Ryoko had crouched down, her face barely an inch in front of the bewildered stranger's, her brows lowered dangerously. The girl peered at the space pirate's golden eyes and blinked in confusion, then her eyes widened when the cyan haired woman palpated her front side with her hands.

"Well, yeah, a girl, I guess," Ryoko said smugly, "even if you've got to look _very_ closely to ever notice!"

"_Ryoko!_" Tenchi grabbed her arm and dragged her away, looking at her reproachfully.

"Ouch! But, Tenchiii...!"

The former boy that was now revealed to be a girl raised an eyebrow and shot a sideglance at Tenchi who had a half-protesting half-flirting Ryoko clung to his neck, but remained silent.

"I think we should get her somewhere inside," Katsuhito proposed and the others nodded. The stranger tried to dust herself off (which had no effect but producing a black cloud around her) when Sasami stepped up next to her.

"Hey, who are you?" Sasami looked at the battered stranger with sparkling pink eyes, panting for breath in excitement.

"I'm Anei," she answered simply and looked around without ruffle or excitement, as if she had met a few strollers on her everyday way to work but certainly not the way it could be expected from someone who just crashed down from outer space and nearly burned to death.

"So, who are you guys?"

"I'm Washu, the greatest scientific genius in the universe, but just call me Little Washu!" Washu squawked, self-assuredly crossing her arms.

"Oh, nice," Anei said.

"My name is Ayeka, first crown princess of Jurai royal family," Ayeka introduced herself while bowing gracefully, "and this is my sister Sasami." Then she pointed to her right, "Lord Tenchi Masaki, first prince of Jurai and... oh, yes," her voice assumed a slightly disdainful tone, "this is Ryoko, a common criminal."

"Watch your tongue, princess!" Ryoko growled and let go of Tenchi's neck, stepping towards Ayeka threateningly. Tenchi let out a gasp of relief and looked at the stranger awkwardly. "Well... err... sorry for... you know..."

"Nevermind," Anei responded quickly and glanced around. "You know, I think I've heard at least about some of you. Do you know what happened to my ship?"

"You're talking about that pile of junk back there?" Ryoko asked tauntingly and pointed back over her shoulder towards the fuming remains of what might once have been a spaceship.

Anei's glance followed Ryoko's outstretched hand and she blinked before her face contorted into a scowl. "Oh, great. Shouldn't have expected otherwise," she muttered and put her hands into her pockets.

"Shouldn't we all go, well... back to the house and just sit down and talk inside?" Tenchi suggested. "I mean it's cold out here, isn't it? And we still hadn't had breakfast. I mean... Gee, girl, you must be freezing cold!"

Only now he did notice that what she was wearing seemed not to fit the current weather conditions, not at all.

"Anei, where are your shoes?" Sasami asked in astonishment, pointing at the girl's bare feet.

Ayeka raised her eyebrows, "Oh my, we should really get back to the house _quickly_."

* * *

><p>Ayeka had noticed that the visitor named Anei was not so very young it had seemed like in the beginning as she was now wearing some suitable clothes. The uniform she had been dressed in had ended up in the trash, as it was so very ripped, stained and scorched there was no use in trying to patch and wash it. They had not had much time to talk yet, as the first thing Anei had asked for was a proper bath. Ayeka had been grateful for it, though, as the trace of soot and dirty footprints the girl had left on the floor on her way to the bathroom had taken her almost an hour to clean away while Ryoko, of course, had done nothing and caught up on some sleep on her usual place on the rafters. Tenchi and Katsuhito had decided to give the newcomer some time and spent the morning up at the shrine after Washu went down to her lab. Anei had unwaveringly refused to be examined, treated or even looked after by her and Tenchi had held Washu back from doing so. Well, Ayeka could imagine a seemingly twelve year old girl who declared herself the greatest genius in the universe after she had declared you to be dead, pulling strange devices from everywhere like the rabbit out of the hat <em>could<em> possibly arise some scepticism.

Now they were sitting on the sofa in somewhat awkward silence, as Anei didn't speak and Ayeka did not exactly know what to say. The girl shifted around on her seat uncomfortably, tugging at the clothes the princess had gotten her. This had been a rather difficult issue in the first place, as she happened to be all skin and bone so it was hard to find some upper garment that did not instantly fall off her shoulders. In the end she was dressed in a shirt and black waistcoat borrowed from Sasami who had been eager to help and as both Sasami's and Ayeka's pants were too short for her legs it had to be one of Ryoko's tight-fitting ones, who had not really been so eager to help, rather the opposite. Now that Ayeka was looking at the girl sitting next to her she could not help but feeling reminded of one of those daddy longlegs that were to be found around the house quite often this time of the year.

"Did you enjoy your bath? You look much better already, Miss Anei," she lied. In fact, she didn't, not in the least. Anei smiled at her lopsidedly and made a movement that was some way between a shrug and a nod. Even without torn clothes and bloodstains all over the body, freshly bathed and dressed there was still a somewhat cadaverous look on her. Ayeka immediately felt impolite for even thinking this way about a stranger and guest she had not come to know yet, and she started worrying if she had been staring at her for too long and if Anei might have noticed it.

"Maybe you need something to eat?" Sasami said, a tone of concern in her voice. Ayeka looked over to at her sister – at least she seemed to have had some similar thoughts.

"Yeah, getting some food, that's a good idea. It's lunchtime soon anyway, isn't it?" Ryoko remarked casually and shot a glance towards the kitchen.

"Why don't you get up and try to be of some help at least one time?" Ayeka sniffed and scowled at Ryoko accusingly.

"So what about you, princess?" Ryoko looked down at her from her place on the rafters with half-closed eyes, raising her brows.

"_I_ am busy taking care for our guest, as you might have noticed, while _you_ do nothing but loafing around!"

"I care as much as you do! Gave her my pants, see?"

"Because we more or less _forced _you to!"

"And _I_ just told Sasami to make lunch because I was worried about our visitor's well-being!" the space-pirate explained and put her hands on her hips.

"I can't believe this!" Ayeka shrilled. "Everything _you_ were thinking about is to stuff yourself and certainly nothing else!"

"That's not true! Look at her, she looks like death warmed up," the pirate smirked.

"RYOKO! You are impossible!" Ayeka sprang to her feet and clenched her fists. "You are nothing but rude and ignorant and – I apologize, Miss Anei, but this impertinent person just – huh?" she stopped when she noticed that the girl was no longer sitting there.

"Where did she go?" Ryoko asked and looked around.

"That's all your fault, you drove her away with your impudent behaviour!"

"Lunch is almost ready!" Sasami's voice sounded from out of the kitchen. "Would you two please help us carry the stuff over there? And someone has to go and get Tenchi and Washu."

"Ill go for him, then!"

Ayeka heard a flashing sound next to her and before she could do anything Ryoko had teleported out of the room. Grumbling, the princess turned around and went over to Washu's lab and after they both had come back together they went to help Sasami to serve the food. Hadn't Sasami said 'help _us_'? And indeed, they were both inside the kitchen, Sasami and Anei, getting the food ready.

"Will you please look for the rest inside the oven?" Sasami asked her helper and went over to the dining table with Ayeka. Not long and they heard Tenchi and Ryoko come back in. They all were just about to sit down when the space pirate suddenly flinched and jumped back.

"Miss Ryoko? What...?" Ayeka asked, but the cyan haired woman just stood there, looking quite pale in the face and said nothing.


	3. Memory Dictionary

"Ryoko?" Washu tugged at her daughter's sleeve impatiently. "What's the matter Ryoko?"

Sasami's outcry distracted her. "Oh no!" The little princess scurried over to the kitchen. There the air seemed somewhat smoky and Washu noticed a pungent smell.

"Oh, you burned it! It's ruined!" she heard Sasami's voice. The blue haired girl came back a few moments later, holding a platter with the remains of what had been supposed to be the missing rest of their lunch but now rather remained charcoal.

"I thought it should be crispy."

The little scientist gave a start when she heard Anei's voice from next to her. She had not noticed her sitting down.

"Crispy, not cremated," Washu muttered.

"It doesn't matter, the rest will still be enough," Sasami said in a conciliatory tone and was about to put the burnt food away.

"But I think I like it that way." Anei reached for the platter.

"Oh no, it's okay, you didn't do it on purpose. There's enough for all of us you don't have to eat _that._" Tenchi tried to hold her back but Anei gently but firmly pushed his hand away.

"I said I like ... _cremated_ things." She shot a sideglance at Washu and the others looked at her in disbelief when she started to eat.

"Why are you standing, Ryoko?" she asked casually while squeezing a generous amount of Wasabi on her plate.

"I... oh." Ryoko sat down hastily. "Nothing. Nothing, really." She glanced around. "I just remembered the dream I had this morning. Had completely forgotten what it was about."

"Oh, well, bad dreams, huh? Can be pretty disturbing, but you shouldn't worry about it as soon as you woke up and realized it had just been a dream, right?"

Ryoko narrowed her eyes and gave Anei a strange look, but Washu was not sure why exactly. "So what was it?" she asked her daughter. "You don't look as if it was something very pleasant."

"It did _sound_ rather unpleasant this morning, first of all," Ayeka remarked dryly.

"You sound _rather unpleasant _every single time you open your big mouth!" Ryoko growled.

"What are you -"

"No NOT AGAIN!" Tenchi shouted desperately.

Washu watched the lunch descend into chaos and shook her head. She seemed the only one to remain calm, as usual. The others were all busy with fighting, trying to separate or pacify the two squabblers or being afraid to come into the firing line. Or, in Sasami's case, trying to safe the food from being spilled. _All the others_? Not exactly, Washu realized. Anei was sitting in the corner of the room, unnoticed by everyone else. Washu raised her brows. Was she _smiling_?

* * *

><p>"Amano!" Kiyone growled and narrowed her eyes while she stared at the mug shot on the screen in front of her. She would get him. She looked at the tiny blue spot that was now coming closer into view and adjusted the course of her ship slightly. No time to lose. It was nothing else than her career that was at stake and <em>he<em> was the one who was responsible for it.

And the only trace they had led to this backwater planet.

It was _ridiculous_. All in all, it was just silly and ridiculous that she of all people was sent to _such _a place for _such _a minor interview. Every trainee could have done that, but they had sent _her_, first class detective Kiyone Makibi. _Former _first class detective, a nasty little voice insider her head reminded her and she scowled. This task itself was a mortification already. When she would get him – and there was no doubt for her that she would – this man would regret ever having been born.

"Damn traitor" she muttered before she reached for her key pad. Ready to enter the atmosphere.

* * *

><p>"So now that everybody has calmed down," Washu said and glanced around, "<em>hopefully<em>," she added, staring especially hard at Ryoko, "we'll finally get the chance to talk, won't we?"

Ryoko glared daggers at Ayeka who returned the look, but both of them remained silent. Tenchi let out a sigh that sounded like a mixture of relief and worry.

"So will you tell us now why you came here?" Washu asked Anei.

The woman played with a chopstick in her fingers and sipped at her tea. "I did not exactly _come_ here, I rather crashed down," she said, "My ship is damaged, as you might have noticed, and it had been damaged before it crashed down which was the reason why it crashed down in the first place." She balanced the chopstick on her fingertip without looking up at them.

"Isn't that a strange coincidence that of all places you come down exactly at the Masaki shrine?" Washu asked suspiciously.

"Not a coincidence, in fact. There was a spaceship ascending from exactly that place and I followed its trace down here, as I hoped for some help. I wouldn't even have made it to the next solar system in that condition, I fear."

"That was Mihoshi," Tenchi noted, then he seemed to remember something as his eyes widened. "Do you happen to know anything about an emergency at galaxy police headquarters? That was the reason why our friend left this morning – the one you saw with the ship."

"Oh, so you didn't hear about _that _yet?" Anei seemed mildly surprised and put the teacup back on the table without dropping the chopstick, then she started to spin it around her forefinger. She ignored the others staring at her expectantly until Ryoko snatched the thing out of her hand.

"So what happened, then?" she asked impatiently.

Anei bent over to her and raised an eyebrow. "I thought _you_ might know, at least, as you're yourself a space pirate, aren't you?"

"What?" Ryoko looked at her in surprise.

Anei sat back. "There has been a massive pirate attack on the galaxy police at... well, at the time you'd call last night from an earth point of view." She tossed the chopstick and let it spin in the air and Ryoko shot a puzzled look at her own hands only to find them empty.

"I think you will be happy to hear that your friend is probably all right, as the time I saw her ship the fighting was almost over. I guess she must have been... late."

"_That _would certainly not surprise me," Ryoko remarked, "They must've been calling her for hours until she finally woke up, I guess."

"Have you been there? I mean have you seen anything?" Ayeka asked.

"Well, I was close when it happened and I kind of got caught in the middle of it. That was why my ship was damaged, you see?"

"But why would the pirates attack GP headquarters?"

"As far as I've heard they were trying to steal something. But don't ask me if they finally succeeded." She stood up. "Would you mind if I go outside and look for my ship now? Maybe there are a few of my belongings left that I can save. And maybe, even if I have only little hope in that, I could start to repair it."

"Of course... but I don't think it can be repaired," Tenchi said doubtfully, "not that I'm an expert for spaceships, but..."

"It is not a Jurian ship and thus it works different from everything I am versed in, but I guess the damage might have been too severe," Ayeka stated.

"To me that thing definitely looks as if it has had it," Ryoko agreed.

"As if _you'd_ be the one who is at home in that subject," Washu jeered, "but I think this time I have to agree with my daughter. You could let me – hey!" the diminutive scientist looked around in confusion. "Where did she go?"

"She must have left already," Tenchi said and got up to pick up his stuff from the table. Washu and Ayeka followed close behind while Ryoko turned around and looked out of the window. She was not sure what to think about this. At the moment, she did not even know what to think at all. This dream still floated around in her head. The smell from the kitchen had brought it back into her mind and now she remembered what it had been about and unfortunately it had startled her so much the others had noticed it. She did not like to admit it, not even to herself, but it _was _scary. It had seemed so real and, unlike usual, it had not been just a recall from her past. Oh, she was used to this kind of dream and those were bad enough, but this... was different. It _felt_ different. Ryoko shuddered but then immediately scolded herself for thinking that way and quickly checked the mental link that connected her with Washu. It was blocked. Good. No need to give her so called mother a reason to make even more fun of her. It was embarrassing enough she had overreacted that way a few minutes ago, not to speak about the incident earlier in the morning. Anei's comment about it had seemed strange, though. _Oh cut it out already, it is just a dream! _she thought and rubbed her forehead angrily.

"Ryoko, get your dishes over here already! It was your turn to clean the table, anyway!" Washu shouted from out of the kitchen. Ryoko rolled her eyes and turned round to take her plate and bowl and then – froze. Her chopsticks were sticking upright inside her rice bowl.*

::_Ryoko?_::

Damn that link! Ryoko turned around and saw Washu sticking her head out of the kitchen door and looking at her in confusion. "What's up?" she asked aloud. Ryoko did not answer but pointed at the table next to her. "Well?" Washu raised her eyebrows. "Is this an attempt to cop out of your chores or what?"

Ryoko shot a puzzled look at the table and her eyes widened. The chopsticks were placed on the chopstick rest, one next to the other, as they were supposed to.

"Excuse me, please?"

"YIIIAAAAAAAH!"

The voice next to her ear and the icy cold touch on her shoulder - this had just been too much. Ryoko's heart seemed to stop for a moment just to start beating with double speed a second later while she stumbled aside, trying not to fall over the chair cushions. She had heard the sound of breaking porcelain from out of the kitchen and found herself gazing at four pairs of eyes that were staring at her in shock.

"Oh my, I'm sorry. I didn't know you're _so_ easily scared." She turned around and saw Anei looking at her in a mixture of mockery and bewilderment.

"YOU! That's – YOU -!"

"Yes, it's me?"

"You little – you did that on purpose, you -"

Ryoko grabbed her by the collar and pulled her close, glaring at her furiously. She felt her energy crackling in the air.

"Ryoko!" Tenchi shouted.

"_Excuse! Me__!_" Anei looked at her with an expression of nothing more than slight annoyance and rapped her over the knuckles two times. Ryoko was astonished enough to loosen her grip. "What do you want me to do, send you a letter first?"

"You did that!" Ryoko pointed to the table, trying not to loose her temper.

"Did what? Oh, I see, I didn't clear away my dishes but that is _just_ what I have come back for. This is no reason to go wild like that, especially as I can see you didn't clear away yours either."

Ryoko blinked. "Dishes? That is – where have you been?"

"Do I have to make an official announcement every time I have to _use the restroom_ here?"

The others looked clearly embarrassed at that notion.

"Okay. Let's have another try: Would you _please go out of my way _now?" She did not wait for an answer or even a reaction, but grasped the space pirate's arms and firmly pushed her aside.

Ryoko shuddered and shook her hands off. "Get off me! What are those... you're cold as ice!"

"Well, this is what happens, I guess, when you _wash your hands _after -"

"Uhmmm why don't we just go and do _something else_, Ryoko, and _somewhere else_, at best, and we'll come back later to do our part in cleaning, okay?" Washu's question was the sort of question that meant, in fact, an order and no one even tried to object.

::_You still owe me an explanation for your reaction earlier!_:: Washu sent Ryoko via their mental link while she grabbed her wrist and dragged her along.

"Hey, _somewhere else_ is NOT your lab, right?"

"No back talk, Ryoko!"

* * *

><p>As the door closed behind the two of them, Anei turned around and gave Ayeka a look of mild astonishment.<p>

"Is it always like this in your family?"

"Err, well..." Ayeka gave a little cough. "Kind of. I'm sorry if there is anything –"

"Oh, but I find it quite entertaining," she stated simply and balanced the remaining dishes to the kitchen.

Ayeka looked at Tenchi and Tenchi looked back, his expression as helpless as hers. She held out her hands to take the dishes from Anei.

"You do not have to help us, please."

"Oh, but I insist."

After they were finished, Ayeka went to her room with Sasami.

"Ryoko is acting strange today, don't you think, sister?" the little princess asked as soon as the door had closed behind them. She sat down, playing with the seam of her coat.

"Stranger than normal, you mean?" Ayeka raised her brows and Sasami looked at her reproachfully in response so the crown princess could not hold back a smile. "You're right, I think. But today was a strange day so far. Starting with an unpleasant wake up call."

"You know, I don't think Ryoko did it to make anyone angry, Ayeka."

"I know that, Sasami. I'm not angry about this, I'm angry about the fact that she shows no manners, as always. If you or me or anyone else would do something that harmed or disturbed others, as unintentionally as it might have happened, we'd be polite enough at least to apologize. Look at that girl, she is our guest and she _did _offer her help immediately. What do you think about her anyway, Sasami?"

"She certainly can not cook," the little princess grumbled.

Ayeka giggled.

"You know, sister, she was not even able to cut the vegetables. She made such a fuss about the knives," Sasami complained.

"Is that so? At the table she didn't seem to be... clumsy or something."

Sasami chewed on her lower lip. "No, I don't think so, you're right." The little princess took a pen from the table and tried to spin it around her finger. "This doesn't work." She scowled.

* * *

><p>"This all doesn't help at all!" Washu peered at the screen in frustration. "So that is what this dream of yours was about?" She looked at her daughter sceptically.<p>

"That's what I say!" Ryoko peered at the thing on her head. "Could you finally remove that, Washu? This is ridiculous. It was just a dream."

"If it was _just a dream_, then tell me why it scared you so much you are acting stupid over the whole day?"

"So it was a _scary _dream, okay? Happy now?" Ryoko grumbled. "I woke up and remembered something, and it was something important, and then all that nonsense happened. You saw it."

"But you did _not_ wake up."

"I dreamed about waking up."

"You know, maybe that's the problem. I guess I can always extract it from your memory if you can't remember something you have done or, in that case, you have been dreaming about, which means nothing but temporarily forgetting something that is still there. I know where to look for something and I find it, you see? But that's not the case now. You dreamed about not remembering something you dreamed about without maybe actually dreaming it – inside your dream, I mean – and therefore things start to get complicated."

Ryoko gave her a baffled look.

"What I want to say is that if you dreamed about remembering something this does not actually mean you really remembered it. The feeling of remembering something important can just be part of the dream, you know?"

"No, not at all." Ryoko frowned.

Washu rolled her eyes. "If you dream you're falling, it feels like you're falling, but you're not, in fact, because you're only imagining it, right?"

"Uh-huh." Ryoko nodded.

"So if you dream about the feeling to have a déjà vu, this feeling does not have to be an actual déjà vu, maybe you're just imagining it."

"Well..." Ryoko scowled. "So that would mean there was just _nothing_ and it meant _nothing_? Because the _I-remember-something-feeling_ was just imaginary?"

"Could be. The other possibility, though, is that you dream about remembering something from your past which is something you actually _are_ able to recall. Which, then, means that you did not forget it at all, you're just not able to make the connection between the actual memory and the feeling of remembering it _inside_ your dream. This would also explain why I didn't find anything hidden in there. Like if you want to say something and there is a word missing that just doesn't come to your mind at this one single moment but, of course, you know that word."

"So you want to tell me that I actually _know_ it, despite the fact that I _forgot_ it?"

Washu gave a loud groan. "The point is that if, and _only if_ the latter of the two opportunities is the case, you'd have to look through your memory and it would be anywhere there, I guess."

"So what's the problem?"

"The problem, my little Ryoko, is that you do not want to peruse _everything _you do remember from the first moment you remember _anything_, right? That would be a few hundred years of work, literally."

"Oh."

"Yeah, _oh_. Good point. Like you wouldn't read through a dictionary because you are looking for your distinct word."

"So that means...?"

"There is a difference between knowing exactly where to look for something and then digging it out, or looking for the needle in a haystack without knowing where to look. I',m a scientist, not a clairvoyant! " She scowled at her daughters still confused expression. "That means we _can't do anything_!"

"Well, that's new."

"Did I hear some irony in that statement?"

Ryoko looked up at the ceiling and pretended to have missed Washu's last sentence. "So what do you think about this other stuff?" she finally asked.

"What other stuff?"

"At lunch. I mean, didn't you _smell_ that?"

"Smell what?"

"It smelled like inside that burning house."

"Well, there was burned food inside the oven. That is _supposed_ to smell burned and I'd rather be worried if you had _not_ noticed it. It reminded you on that dream and you were startled, I guess."

"Earlier the day inside that ship it did _not_ remind me on anything."

Washu shrugged. "We were all quite distracted by the fact that a ship had crashed down next to the shrine."

"But then the chopsticks, I told you–"

"I can only tell you what I saw when you showed your memories to me-"

"You _extracted_ them, you mean-"

"Don't split hairs now and _stop interrupting me_! As I said, what I saw is not more than you already know and it is not a very clear memory. You might not have looked closely enough, overlooked something or misinterpreted?"

"_You_ interrupted _me_ first! So, whatever, and what if I haven't?"

"Then it would mean that you are either malfunctioning or it wouldn't make any sense to me."

"_Malfunctioning_?" Ryoko snarled and shot an angry glance at the scientist.

"I am sure my inventions do not tend to malfunction. I'm a genius, after all."

Ryoko gave her a look of pure annoyance when suddenly something started to beep next to Washu. The little scientist turned around and typed something on her halotop.

"Looks like we're getting another visitor," she muttered, "and the term _visitor_ excludes Mihoshi."

"You must be kidding!" Ryoko said in disbelief.

* * *

><p>Footnotes:<p>

*This symbolizes death in Japanese culture as it reminds of funeral rituals.


End file.
